Guilty As Charged
by Em Dixon
Summary: As part of her recover process, Azula is supposed to be taking responsibility for her actions. Which, apparently, includes apologizing.


**Guilty as Charged  
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Azula walked past Zuko's office and glared at him. Usually, he didn't leave the door open, but she had her suspicions about why it was open now. She gathered her the hem of her dress, then stood in the doorway, watching him read from a stack of papers. He knew she was there. He was just refusing to acknowledge her. So she stood there, even if there were better things she could be doing. She wouldn't give in first.

"Did you want something, Azula?"

A small victory, but she still had to deal with that feeling gnawing at her. It was weird for her to have that almost nauseous feeling in the pit of her stomach. It had kept her up all night, and that had made her cranky, which only made that feeling worse when she started snapping at people. Toph told her it was this thing called guilt.

Zuko was looking at her expectantly. Rather than meet his eyes, she smoothed her dress. It was a beautiful dress. Bright red silk with winged sleeves. Fire lilies embroidered in a fine golden thread. High collar with mahogany buttons. Zuko bought it for her as a welcome home gift after five years spent in a mental institution.

"Thank you for the dress. It's beautiful."

"You're very welcome. It looks nice on you."

She waited, but that didn't make the nagging go away. She chewed her lip, then started pinching the fabric.

"Something else I can do for you?" He was leaning back in his chair with his arms folded. Smiling at her like the owl cat who got the mouse. Damn him.

Defiant, she could do, so Azula stuck her nose in the air, and prepared to march off, but there was Aang coming down the hallway. Aang, master of making people feel guilty for stuff they normally wouldn't feel guilty for doing. Now she didn't have a choice. Aang saw her, and he waved at her. Sighing, she turned back to Zuko.

"I'm…sorry."

"For what?" He was still smiling at her, doing his best to look encouraging. Spirits, she hated him.

"For eating your desert. All four of them." She paused, fidgeting. "And for eating your deserts for the past week."

Aang was standing behind her, and she hoped that he wouldn't say anything and rub it in.

"It's ok. I probably shouldn't eat so many, anyway." Zuko smiled genuinely, and that made her feel a lot better. Already, the knot in her stomach was loosening. But not entirely, although that might have had more to do with the large amount of sweets she'd eaten.

There. When she turned around, she came face to face with Aang, less than a foot in front of her, smiling from ear to ear like he'd been the one eating so many delicious deserts. She sent him mental messages, screaming at him to keep his mouth shut.

"See Azula," he said excitedly, pulling her close to hug her, then keeping her at arm's length. "It's not so bad. I told you he wouldn't be too angry about it." He marched off down the hallway.

"Let go of your dress before you rip it," Zuko said, coming to stand beside her. "After a while you'll learn when to tune out his relentless cheerfulness."

* * *

><p>AN: Ok, I've been sitting on this one for _months_. This is Azula, shortly after coming home from the hospital, making an honest effort at rehabilitation. See, the doctors told her about this thing called 'apologizing,' and that you do it when you've made someone angry. They also introduced such novel concepts as guilt, stealing, understanding, and not setting people on fire. Some odd part of me thinks that Azula and Toph would get along. They're blunt, they don't take mess, and they're badass. It might be dangerous for Toph to be part of Azula's recovery process, or for Azula to ask her about this guilt thing, but there you have it. And, of course, _Aang_ would have to help, too. Aang likes helping, and after having seen Azula in the asylum, it might have become something like a pet project to him. Because, you know, he's the Avatar and all. He's got to help.


End file.
